


All Things End: The Inevitable Halloween Special

by Couragefan09



Series: The All Things End Series [3]
Category: Courage the Cowardly Dog
Genre: AU, Halloween, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25946833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Couragefan09/pseuds/Couragefan09
Summary: All Things End AU. Courage takes Computer trick-or-treating for the first time. It goes exactly as well as you're expecting.
Series: The All Things End Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/292769
Kudos: 3





	All Things End: The Inevitable Halloween Special

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I've been meaning to write an ATE Halloween short story to go with the Christmas one for YEARS now. I always missed the Halloween deadline to get one written up so this year I decided to start on it early so that it will hopefully be done in time. Since this is going to be two to three-ish chapters long, I've decided to publish it as a standalone short story instead of adding it to Volume II like I've been doing for the rest of the AU chapters. On that note then, for any new readers I highly suggest that you read a decent chunk of All Things End before you read this. Even though it is non-canon to the main storyline, it does use several of the original characters from it, in-jokes, and the same general characterization that you will find in the main story.

All Things End: The Inevitable Halloween Special

Part One

A clear, crisp night had fallen over Nowhere just in time for all of the Halloween festivities to begin. The twinkling stars and overly large moon cast down an eerie light upon the barren flatland that was Nowhere. The silver light made it bright enough that you could easily see where you were going, but it also caused everyone and everything to cast long, creepy shadows across the flat earth.

People were already gathering outside the Bagge farmhouse. Muriel had been the one to come up with the idea to host a Halloween party that anyone who lived in Nowhere could attend. The barn had been decorated inside and out with all of the best and cheesiest Halloween décor one could find, and she had spent all day baking treats that were now waiting laid out on the tables inside. There was green punch too and even a barrel that would be used to bob for apples later.

The girl dog appeared suddenly and silently some distance away from the farm. She cast an odd looking shadow, mostly thanks to her costume. She was going as the grim reaper.

She lowered the plastic scythe, one that was way too big for her tiny body, and pulled back the hood of her black cloak. She could see the gathering crowd ahead. Nobody had invited her to this party, but she knew that if Courage had been able to contact her, he would have asked her to come. Admittedly, it wasn't just that which had drawn her here. She could sense that something was going to happen tonight and she wanted to be around to witness it. Perhaps an old curse was going to be lifted, or maybe a new curse was to be cast on this night ruled by tricksters and terror.

She strolled forward, her cloak drifting across the dry dirt. A small smile fell across her face as she considered all of the fun she was going to have tonight. She knew that she was going to get the chance to play the role of trickster. Her favorite person to bother would be here tonight. Because wherever Courage went, there was also...

The attic window suddenly lit up with a blue-green light. The glass slid open and a computer raised up upon six metal legs crawled out like a giant spider. It stood there atop the roof of the porch for a moment, watching the gathering crowd, before scuttling forward and jumping down out of sight.

The girl dog was going to have some fun tonight indeed!

Just as she added herself to the crowd, the door to the farmhouse opened and Muriel stepped out onto the porch. Every voice fell silent and all heads turned toward her. She was dressed as an angle with cardboard wings panted yellow and covered in golden glitter. Her usual yellow dress was switched out for a white one and a yellow halo made out of pipe cleaner bobbed above her head with every little movement.

“Welcome, dearies!” She greeted them. “Now don't you all look like a fine bunch of spooks!” She pointed to the barn. “If you could all gather inside, we can begin the frightful festivities.”

The girl dog waited while everyone around her shuffled off toward the barn. She was keeping an eye open for a certain someone but she never caught a glimpse of him or Courage. Turning back toward Muriel, the angelic woman was still on the porch, only now she was looking into the house through the open door. It seemed a bit odd that Courage was not with her.

“Eustace.” She called, an edge of annoyance entering her voice.

Past Muriel, the girl dog could just barely see Eustace sitting in his beloved red chair with a newspaper open. Taped to his hat were two devil horns.

“Come on now, Eustace.” Muriel scolded him. “The party is starting!”

Eustace aggressively flicked to another page. “I told you! I ain't getting out of this chair fer some stupid, kiddy Halloween party! Yer too old fer it, and I'm too old fer it, and it's past my bed time anyway!”

“Ah, go to sleep, you old lump! We're going to have fun playing games and eating candy!”

Courage did not seem to be in the house either then. The girl dog turned away and headed inside the barn. Creepy music was radiating from an old record player that had been placed in a corner, although it could barely be heard over the talk and laughter of the costumed guests. Rubber bats and spiders were hanging from the high ceiling of the barn and the walls were covered in fake spider webs. Despite how crowded it was in the barn, it did not take the girl dog long to locate the odd shape of Computer among the more humanoid people. She was, however, taken aback by an oddity. Not only was Computer there in his robotic form, but standing beside him was also his glowing dog self. How could that be?

She moved in closer. Computer, the robot spider Computer, still had his monitor turned away from her. She reached her scythe forward and tapped him. The monitor swiveled around completely and it gazed at her for only a moment before Computer let out a 'GAH!' and jumped back like a spooked cat.

The robot spider, with an uncanny swiftness, reached over and pulled a red, devil's trident off the wall and aimed it at her...even though it was just as plastic as her scythe.

“You invited _her_?” He exclaimed to his doppelganger.

The other Computer, who was apparently Courage who had somehow turned himself radioactive blue, looked at her with wide eyes before smiling, glad to see her.

She decided to speak up before he could say anything. “I invited myself.”

Computer lowered the trident. “Well, fine then. Party away. We're not going to be sticking around here much longer anyway.”

The girl dog raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

Courage nodded. “We're going trick-or-treating.”

That eyebrow raised even higher. “Aren't you two a bit old to be trick-or-treating?”

Even without eyes, the girl dog could feel Computer leering at her. “I've never taken part in this... _ritual_. I was promised that there would be candy involved, and I am allowed to bring down my wrath upon anyone who does not pay a proper candy tribute.”

“...Within reason.” Courage interjected.

“Within reason.” Computer begrudgingly repeated in affirmation. “Besides,” He went on, pointed a claw at Courage. “He's what? Five or six years old? Perfectly young enough! _I'm-_ ” He slapped a claw to his CPU with a clunk. “-going as his guardian.”

The girl dog rolled her eyes. “You can lie all you like, but we both know that he's like a bijillion years old in dog years. He's as much of an old geezer as you are.”

“Hey! I'm not THAT old!” Courage complained.

“What exactly is up with this anyway?” She asked, waving a paw at Courage's weirdly glowing form.

“Well,” Computer said, monitor swiveling toward Courage. “I decided that I was going to go as...myself for Halloween, and I guess that Courage decided that he was also going to be me for Halloween.”

Courage laughed and grumpily exclaimed, “You twit!” in a failed attempt to mimic Computer's voice.

“That was so bad.” Computer groaned.

The girl dog squinted at his glowing fur. “How did you do it?”

Computer's voice took on a somewhat disapproving tone. “He ordered something like three hundred blue glowsticks online, cut them open, and covered himself in the goop.”

The girl dog winced. “You do know that stuff is toxic, right?”

“That's what I told him!” Computer huffed, crossing two of his metal pipe arms. “But does he ever listen to me? Nooo, of course not!”

“I feel fine.” Courage assured them. “Although my skin _is_ starting to feel a little...tingly.”

“...That's probably the cancerous tumors coming in.” Computer muttered out, having adjusted the volume of his voice to a much quieter level.

“Uh, show her the map!” Courage quickly blurted out, desperate to change the subject.

“Map?” She asked. These two were just full of surprises tonight.

Computer produced a crudely drawn map and dangled it in front of her face. “We're planning on hitting all _four_ houses in Nowhere for this annual shakedown ritual. It's actually a bit hard to demand candy from people when nobody lives nearby, so we planned our route ahead of time.” He tapped a claw against one of the badly drawn houses with a red circle around it. “We're going to hit this place first-” He slid the claw along a red line. “Then we're going to pick up Nina at her place, and after that we're going to get the rest of our candy. If Nowhere does not produce a sufficient level of highly processed sugar, we have decided that we're going to steal the farmer's truck and terrorize the next town over until the candy tithe is met.”

“Sounds like fun.” The girl dog began.

“No, you can't come with us.” Computer quickly and dryly interjected.

“Oh, come on, Compute. Don't be that way. She ca-MMPH!” Courage was cut off when Computer reached over and clamped his muzzle shut between two claws.

“Well, would you look at the time! We had better get going before this whole Halloween business ends!” Computer exclaimed with fake urgency.

He picked Courage up by the scruff of his neck and plopped him down on top of his monitor. He then practically bounded out of the barn with a _whoosh_ while Courage held on for dear life. The girl dog grinned as the two disappeared into the strange silver darkness of the night. She was going to have to join up with them later...after she had a taste of that green punch.

…..

Upon the ringing of the doorbell, a decrepit old lady shuffled up to the door with a bowl of candy in her hands. She opened the door with a warm greeting only for her expression to turn into a look of confusion a moment later.

While Courage was standing there like a perfectly normal trick-or-treater, Computer was... hanging upside down.

“Candy. Now. I'm not asking.” He declared, reaching three of his tube arms out toward her while the other three kept him attached to the roof of her porch.

Courage snorted out a laugh and shook his head. “What he means to say is, Trick Or Treat!”

The old lady dropped a single, small wrapped up bar of chocolate into Computer's open claw...while she dumped pretty much the entire bowl of candy into Courage's open bag.

Upon the door closing, Computer dropped down from the ceiling with a heavy clunk. He looked down at his tiny bar of chocolate and then over at Courage's nearly overflowing bag.

Just when it seemed like he was about to complain, he instead brought the bar of chocolate up closer to his screen and inspected it. “What are the odds she hid a razor blade in this?”

“I'm pretty sure that sort of thing is just an urban legend, Compute.”

“You say that now but wait until you're trying to digest a sharp piece of metal. Hmmm, well, if there is a razor blade hidden in this, I could sue her for a ton of money and use that to buy even more candy.” He handed the piece of chocolate over to Courage. “Guard this with your life.”

Courage opened his bag wider to drop the piece of candy in, but all of a sudden Computer was practically on top of him.

“Did that wrapper say what I think it said?” He exclaimed, somehow managing to shove nearly his entire monitor into the candy bag.

“It did!” He went on, sounding immensely pleased with himself. He reached a claw in and pulled out a single piece of hard candy. The brown wrapper said that it was 'coffee candy'.

“Oh boy...” Courage weakly uttered out.

“They make candy out of coffee? Why was I not informed? This is a revelation!”

“You do realize that's mine, right?” Courage grumbled.

Computer suddenly went very rigid. With considerable reluctance, he said, “I suppose you're right.” And very, very slowly moved to drop it back into Courage's bag.

“Well,” Courage drawled, giving his despairing companion a knowing grin. “I could trade you that coffee candy for the razor blade chocolate.”

Computer withdrew his claw with lightning speed. “Okay, I need a mouth then, really, _really_ badly!” He leaned in closer toward Courage. “Can I borrow yours for a few minutes?”

Courage stepped back as one of Computer's claws loomed close. “No! You can have a mouth when we get home!”

“Fiiiine.” He sighed.

He pressed the button to open his disk drive and plopped the candy down onto it. “I'm probably taking a risk doing this because it might break something, but there's no safer place to keep it right now.”

The disk drive slid smoothly shut, and if the coffee candy was wrecking havoc on his insides, Computer made no comment.

“Time to head over to Nina's.” He said, grabbing Courage and placing him atop his monitor yet again. “Hope she's ready to pay tribute, because I'm not giving her an exemption.”

Courage was still having a hard time staying seated up there as Computer moved across Nowhere as fast as his mechanical legs could take him. The smooth, slippery metal didn't help and there was nothing for Courage to hold on to.

“We really need to install a seat belt!” He yelled just before he slid off and was only saved from a painful wipe out thanks to a quick catch on Computer's part.

“Just be thankful that you're the only person in the world I would ever let use me as a taxi cab!” His companion huffed.

Courage, upside down, was brought level with Computer's monitor. The claw that had reached out for him as he fell had only managed to grab his leg at the last second and this was the result.

...Computer did not seem to be in a rush to mention the fact that he was the one who had started putting Courage up there of his own accord in the first place.

Courage snickered. “Maybe we should paint you taxi colors then.”

The claw opened up and Courage fell onto his head...

“Ow, hey!”

He was going to say something more but was kept from doing so when Computer asked, “What is that?”

He had his monitor turned toward the horizon, in the direction where the sun would be coming up if it was much, much later. Courage could see a strange sort of deep, misty red spreading out in the distance. Like a blood red dawn or, as the ominous phenomenon began to spark with flashes of crimson lightning, like an oncoming storm.

“That can't be anything good.” He weakly uttered out, looking up at Computer from where he was still laying in the dirt.

“I think it might be a good idea to get back to the farm...” Computer cautiously agreed.

Unfortunately, the phenomenon was moving way too fast. The sky was filling with the misty red, blotting out the stars and the moon. A strange, continuous note fell over the land, ever rising, like an engine revving louder and louder. Both Courage and Computer were suddenly shaded a dull sort of red as Nowhere was engulfed in the phenomenon overhead. Unnaturally colored lightning crackled in the sky, red bolts outlined in black. There was no wind or rain to go along with it, but the earth was beginning to shake as the painful note continued to rise. A bolt of that red lightning struck dangerously close nearby, but instead of producing a loud boom, it instead created an eerie ringing that washed over them.

Another bolt hit far too close for comfort, and perhaps understanding how dire the situation was becoming, Computer moved to shelter Courage underneath him. His attempt to protect Courage came not a moment too soon, because a bolt did indeed come crackling down on top of them and struck him point blank.

His metal frame shuddered as the red and black electrical current pulsed through him. Courage watched the eldritch electricity spark its way down through his companion's six legs and exit out his claws and into the earth around them. Courage remained unscathed, although he could feel his fur standing on edge from the static.

Computer slowly tipped forward and hit the ground screen first.

“Oh, no! Compute!” Courage cried out. His companion was completely shut down from the strike, much to his dismay. “Ooooh, this is bad...” He whimpered.

Another lightning strike shook the earth frighteningly close, and Courage watched in horror as it caused the ground beneath him to split open. He lunged forward to try and drag Computer out of the way, but it was far too late. The fissure widened with shocking speed and Courage only managed to get a single paw around one of Computer's claws before they both slipped into the newly created rift.

….....

He was not sure what had knocked him out, but when Courage regained consciousness, he was swinging upside down by one leg. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the red light and black shadows all around him. His stomach lurched when he realized that he was swinging over an abyss that seemed to go on forever with no bottom in sight.

Inevitably, he screamed.

“Yeah, you might want to avoid looking down.”

With some effort, Courage strained himself to look upward. He was dangling from one of Computer's back leg claws. The other five were being used to keep Computer himself clinging to the rocky wall of the fissure. He sounded awfully calm considering the fact that they both were only one slip away from meeting oblivion.

Courage also could see the red sky almost impossibly far above them. They must have fallen a long way before Computer powered back on and saved them. Courage was not sure how they would ever make that climb all the way back up. Not even Computer in his far more tireless robot body could possibly make that climb without running into issues.

“I can see the opening of a cave or an alcove not much farther up. I've been trying to get us there.” Computer told him.

Courage swallowed and, holding his breath, decided that he would let Computer continue to handle this. He was too busy trying not to lose his lunch to the void that yawned before him.

...And then he did lose his lunch when two of Computer's many legs slipped and they both jolted as he worked to regain his footing.

After that, all Courage could do was close his eyes and pretend that he was back at the Halloween party bobbing for apples or stuffing himself on all of the sweets Muriel had spent the day baking. He was not sure how long it took Computer to get to the cave opening, but he had never been so glad for solid ground than when Computer lifted him up and dumped him inside the vast darkness of the cave.

A red light followed as Computer clamored in after him and it was then that Courage realized that something had changed about Computer. His blue-green screen had become a shocking crimson color.

“Compute!” He yelped. “Your screen!”

“Oh, huh, that's a bit weird.” Computer said, finally noticing the red light emanating from his screen. He was still weirdly calm despite the change.

“A-are you okay?” Courage asked, shakily climbing onto his feet. “The last time you got struck by lightning like this you kinda went a bit crazy.”

“Ugh, don't remind me!”

“Seriously though! Are you sure you're okay? Do you feel any different?”

“Hmm, well...” His companion began, crossing his metal arms. “I do have the weirdest urge to enter a goth phase all of a sudden.”

“Compute! Don't crack jokes!” Courage begged, yanking Computer's monitor closer to him. “You could be hurt! That wasn't normal lightning!”

“Well, if I suddenly explode into a million pieces you'll know that something was wrong. Until then, I'm feeling perfectly fine.”

Courage's fretting was interrupted by an earthquake, and when you're stuck in a cave a million miles under the earth's surface, an earthquake tends to become ten times scarier. Courage let out a panicked yelp as the rumbling knocked him off his feet. Computer, who was far more stable on his six spider-like legs, reached a claw out to help him back up. He accepted the claw gladly.

“Let's get further inside. It has got to be safer than just standing around here.” Computer said, watching huge chunks of rock fall past the opening of the cave. The fissure was heaving like a living, breathing entity.

No sooner had he plopped Courage down atop his monitor for safe keeping did the cave begin to rumble so violently that even he could barely keep his balance. He stumbled away from the cave opening while Courage held on for dear life. A horrible crashing sound followed and they both looked back to see that the fissure had closed itself back up again and the cave opening had become a solid wall.

“I guess we're not getting out that way.” Computer commented as casually as if he were talking about the weather.

His red screen and Courage's rapidly dulling glowstick glow was the only thing bringing any light to the cave.

“We're going to have to look for a way back to the surface.” Computer said with a shrug. “So much for the Halloween shakedown. It will probably be Christmas by the time we find our way out of here.”

Courage gulped fearfully. He was worried for Muriel and all the others. That red storm was likely still raging above. He was worried for Computer too. It didn't seem possible that he could take a direct strike like that from what was clearly some sort of supernatural force and only come out of it with a weird screen color change.

“Oh, also, I've got bad news.” Computer added, his claws clicking against the stone as he scuttled deeper into the cave.

Courage groaned. What more could possibly go wrong?

“Your bag of candy fell into the abyss while you were unconscious. I wasn't able to grab it in time.”

Courage slapped a paw to his face. “For all we know it's the end of the world up there and you're worried about the candy?”

Waving a claw in dismissal, Computer huffed, “You're the one who's going to complain if it ends up taking us a week to find a way out of here and the only thing you have to eat is rocks. I do hope you realize that you almost became that bag of candy as well. I very nearly didn't catch you back there.”

Courage's stomach lurched at that revelation. If they managed to get out of this alive, he was going to have nightmares about that bottomless fissure for months.

Computer let out a long, deeply annoyed sigh. “And here I was looking forward to a night of threatening people for their candy. I guess that was just too much to ask for.”

End Of Chapter


End file.
